Final Exam

The final exam consists of one of the six questions below. On the day of the final exam I will bring a fair six-sided die and ask a volunteer from the class to roll it to determine which question students will be required to answer.

Students also have the option of taking the final at one of two alternate times: Tuesday, May 8, 6:30 p.m., Gailhac Room G114, or Thursday, May 10, noon, Ballston Room 204. There is no need to register for one of the alternate times in advance. However, students who begin the exam at any of the times (the scheduled time or one of the alternates) must finish the exam at that sitting (that is, you can’t show up, see which number gets rolled, and then decide you want to take it at a different time).

The final exam will be written in class without books, notes, computers, phones, audio devices, or other aids. Students found violating the Marymount principles of Academic Integrity will fail the course and be formally charged through the University’s Academic Integrity process.

Your answer must be well-organized, with a clearly-specified thesis statement and appropriate logic and evidence, and must refer to course readings where appropriate.

How likely are the United States and North Korea to go to war in the coming decade?

Consider the American use of military power abroad in ways that fall short of the traditional definition of war. To what extent are the growth in these kinds of military interventions driven by purely political factors such as the balance of power or the rise of crisis in the target states versus technological factors such as the increasing availability of drones, command-and-control of special forces, and the like?

Is the American campaign against al Qaeda having the desired effect?

To what extent does nuclear proliferation to countries like Iran or North Korea pose a unique threat to the United States, different from the threat posed by the Soviet Union during the cold war?

What are the consequences for regional and global security of the U.S. missile defense program?

Do American national security policy-making institutions effectively translate national interests into national policy?